Dental Advertising in Québec: What the Professional Order Allows in an Ad

A dental clinic that wants to run Google Ads bumps into a question most businesses never have to answer: what can I actually say in an ad without risking a complaint to my professional order? A dentist practising in Québec stays bound by the Code des professions and the Code de déontologie des dentistes even while acting as a business owner, and that dual reality shapes what an ad is allowed to say. Here is the checklist I use with dental clinics and other health professionals before a single ad goes live, and the reasoning behind each line of it.

Why can't a dental clinic advertise like any other business?

Because a dentist keeps their professional obligations even in the business-owner role, which adds a layer of rules that Québec's consumer protection law does not cover on its own. A restaurant can write "best pizza in town" with little risk, because nobody reads that line as a verifiable promise. The same kind of claim, applied to a dental treatment, touches something else: it can create an expectation about a clinical outcome, or imply a superiority nothing backs up. That difference is why the Code de déontologie des dentistes restricts professional advertising more tightly than general commercial advertising rules do.

What does the Code de déontologie des dentistes say about advertising?

The Code de déontologie des dentistes (CQLR c. D-3, r. 4) sets out the advertising rules in sections 3.09.01 to 3.09.11. Section 3.09.01 limits an ad's content to information that helps the public make an informed choice. Section 3.09.02 bans advertising that is false, misleading, incomplete or liable to mislead, and bars a dentist from claiming a specific quality or skill unless it can be substantiated on request, which covers unverifiable superiority claims. Section 3.09.03 bans comparative advertising outright, so no comparison with another dentist. The general tone of an ad should read as factual rather than promotional in the retail sense. These sections have been in force since Order in Council 279-93 in 1993 and have not changed since, but before publishing anything, I always tell the clinic to confirm the current version directly with the Ordre des dentistes du Québec rather than rely on a summary, including this one.

Are patient testimonials allowed in a dental ad?

No. Section 3.09.10 of the Code de déontologie bars a dentist from using, or allowing the use of, an endorsement or statement of gratitude about them in advertising or in any public appearance. That bar is not limited to testimonials praising a specific treatment outcome: a happy patient who writes "my smile is completely transformed since my treatment" falls under it, but so does a more neutral comment about the front desk or the wait time, once it functions as an endorsement of the dentist rather than a description of the service itself. The only safe ground is a factual description of a service, never a quoted patient, however neutral the quote sounds.

Can a clinic promise a result in its ad?

No, and that is probably the simplest rule in this whole article. A clinical result depends on factors specific to each patient, something no clinic can guarantee ahead of time, so an ad should never promise a specific outcome, whether in words or in a before-and-after image shown without qualification. Describing a service offered (a whitening treatment, an implant consultation, a dental emergency slot) stays fine; promising what that service will produce for a particular person does not.

How do you show a price without breaking professional advertising rules?

A posted price needs to be complete and clear, with no hidden fee that only shows up once the patient is in the chair. If a clinic advertises the price of a consultation or an exam, that price should cover exactly what the ad describes, with no condition left out of the ad copy. Artificial urgency ("today only," a countdown clock) is worth avoiding for a health service: it works fine for a shoe sale, but it can suggest a health decision should be made under pressure, which runs against the spirit of the Code de déontologie even when the price itself is accurate.

Does the landing page need to follow the same rules as the ad?

Yes, and this is the part many clinics forget once the ad itself gets approved. The Code de déontologie des dentistes does not stop at the few dozen characters that show up in a search result, it covers every public communication from the clinic, including the page the click lands on. A careful ad that promises nothing, followed by a landing page with a detailed testimonial about a treatment outcome or a bold results promise, undoes the work put into the ad copy. Before approving a campaign, I review the landing page against the same list as the ad text: no testimonial about a specific outcome, no numeric promise, no before-and-after image without a note that results vary from person to person. That consistency between the ad and the page matters to Google too, since ad relevance is judged partly on what the page actually delivers once someone clicks through.

Which words should come out of an ad before it goes live?

A short list of words and phrasing that show up most often in the drafts I review, and that should almost always come out before publishing:

• "Guaranteed," applied to a treatment outcome rather than a service or company policy.
• "Best dentist," or any comparative claim with no verifiable data behind it.
• "Guaranteed pain-free," which states one person's variable experience as an established fact.
• A patient testimonial quoted word for word about a treatment result.
• A before-and-after image with no clear note that a result varies from person to person.

Each of those lines works well for selling an ordinary product and turns into a problem the moment it touches a regulated health service.

How do I build the checklist before launching a campaign for a health professional?

I go through every headline and description line by line against the list above before I even think about targeting or budget, because a word that needs to come out costs more to fix once the ad is live and flagged. I then get the final copy approved by the professional themselves, never only by whoever handles their marketing, because it is the dentist, not the agency, who answers to their order for what the ad says. That step applies to every health-sector client I work with as part of my Google Ads management service, in a sector where a poorly worded claim carries more weight than it would in retail.

Does this caution hurt campaign performance?

Not necessarily, and it is often the opposite. A precise ad that describes exactly what is on offer (hours, location, the type of appointment available) gives Google more relevant information to match against a search than a vague ad full of unverifiable superlatives, which can help the Quality Score, the rating Google Ads assigns to each keyword based on how relevant the ad appears. Cutting a line that carries deontological risk does not mean cutting the useful information that gets a patient looking for an appointment to click.

This is the list I use with dental clinics and the other health professionals I work with on online advertising, adjusted as each order's guidelines change.

Drafted with AI assistance, checked and published by Marven Salgado.